Improvement in needle-threaders for sewing-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. STAMP, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN NEEDLE-THREADERS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 156,604, dated November 3, 1874: application filed October 19, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. STAMP, of Washington city, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and Improved. Needle- Threader; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawing forming a part of this speciiication, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the handle Figs. 3 and 4, detail views of the hook.

The object of this invention is to provide a means of easily threading the needle of a sewing-machine. Itconsists in the peculiar construction of a hook, which passes through the eye of the needle and seizes the thread, the said hook being attached to a shank which is of a size barely small enough to allow its passage through the eye, and the hook being so cut away on both sides as to reduce the thickness of the hook almostto that of a knifes edge, so that the thread will bend short and to a point around the edge, and also have room to flatten itself on the sides of the hook when passing through the eye of the needle.

In the drawing, A represents a flat metallic handle, which may be made of any desired pattern, but preferably as shown. I propose,

' however, to make the handles either straight,

as shown, or bent at an angle, according to the position of the eye of the needle to which they are adapted. Said handle has a seat, a,

in which the shank of the hook rests, a screwhole, I), and the deflected stem 0. Said stem is deflected from the hook about half the thickness of the average-size needle, and, consequently, brings the hook in the same vertical plane with the eye when rested against the said needle. For larger or smaller needles the hook is rotated or shifted about the stem as an axis until it is in a line with the eye. B

is a detachable hook, the shank of which rests in the seat a in the handle, and is fastened thereinby means of the binding-screw d. Said shank is of a size just small enough to pass through the eye of the needle. The hook, however, is much thinner, being cut away on both sides until it corresponds in cross-section to a thin knifes edge. The object of this extremely thin hook is to cause the thread to bend in the form of a pointed loop, and at the same time give the thread room to flatten out, so as to allow the hook and thread to pass through the eye of the needle without enlarging or bulging out the same.

The hook thus constructed with flattened sides possesses great advantages over a hook with grooves, as the latter simply takes up the thread without allowing it to flatten, while the thin knife-edge takes up the thread, and also allows the same to flatten when largesized threads are used, thus giving ita far more extended range of use, and also preservin g its strength for the small needles by reason of its proportionally larger shank. To thread a needle, all that is necessary is to insert the hook by resting the stem against the needle to steady it; then place a loop of the thread over the hook and withdraw it, the thread following the hook throngh without cutting or breaking, by reason of the very slight traction that is necessary.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is A needle-i hreading hook attached to a shank of uniform thickness from end to end, and having its sides cut away to a knifes edge, substantially as and for the purpose described.

The above speciflcatioif of my invention signed by me this 13th day of October, A. D. 1 74:.

JNO. M. STAMP.

Witnesses:

SoLoN O. KEMON, (HAS. A. PETTIT. 

